Love in the time of darkness
by Theppukaran
Summary: Harry and Hermione are returning to Hogwarts for their 8th and final year. A prophecy threatens the existence of the wizarding world, and they both must form an unlikely team up to stop the incoming darkness. Harry/Hermione/Draco triad fic. Please R&R
1. Chapter 1

**THE PROPHESY**

 _ **A new darkness shall dawn upon the world the during the fall of first rains. A darkness that shall overshadow even the dark lord is coming. It shall wreak havoc unless left unchecked. Empires shall fall and a new world order shall come to power. Beware of the darkness….**_

The Professors who were sitting around the staff table were stunned by the words of their fellow professor. Professor Trelawney had uttered these words as they were in a staff meeting before the starting of the new year. Hogwarts had been completely devastated by the battle that had happened just 3 weeks ago that cost the lives of the many students and the then headmaster of the school Professor Snape. The prospect of a similar thing coming to them again was unthinkable to them.

"Sorry.", Professor Trelawney said in her normal voice as she shook out of the trance that she was in. But when she looked around, she saw that all of her professors were looking at her in a weird way. "What happened?", she asked.

"I think you gave another true prophecy, Sybill.", the newly appointed headmistress Minerva McGonagall said. She had always been a sceptic of seers before, but she knew from Dumbledore that there were true prophecies and Trelawney had already given two.

"W-what? You must be mistaken.", Trelawney said with a shocked expression. "I certainly don't remember saying anything."

The other teachers then just remained silent and continued the meeting. But they internally vowed to discuss this after Trelawney goes. After the meeting, the headmistress dismissed all the teachers except for the heads of houses.

"What do you think is going to happen Minerva. Our world certainly can't take one more war.", Pomona asked.

"The world is already devastated nearly beyond repair. One more war will mean the end of Wizarding Britain.", Filius said

"If I remember correctly, Sybill had said, _**'It shall wreak havoc unless left unchecked.'**_ ", the headmistress said. "Maybe that means that, we have a chance of stopping it before it becomes a full-on war."

"We can only hope for that, Minerva. Nearly 30% of the wizarding population of Britain has been wiped off during this war. We certainly cant take any chances with this one.", Slughorn said.

"I should go and consult Dumbledore in this matter. I am sure that, he can guide us on this matter.", Minerva said. "After all, he has seen three wizarding wars, and faced two dark lords."

"Yes. That would be a wise move.", the teachers agreed and they all went back to their offices.

"So, Sybill has given another Prophecy, huh?", the portrait of Dumbledore asked.

"Yes.", McGonagall said. "I am worried, Dumbledore. Two wars back to back will be the end of us."

"It will certainly be.", Dumbledore said sadly. "But all we can do now is wait."

"I shall inform the ministry about this.", McGonagall said.

"You certainly should.", Dumbledore agreed. "But this should not go public. It will just cause a mass panic."

"What about Mr. Potter?", McGonagall asked.

"We should not trouble him with matters like this now. He will be still recovering from the battle.", Dumbledore said. "He is coming back for one last year, isn't he?"

"Yes, Albus. He will be attending one more year along with Ms. Granger.", Minerva nodded.

"For now let's get ready for our next year, and also keep a look out for darkness in our world.", Dumbledore said sadly.


	2. Chapter 2

**HARRY POTTER**

Harry Potter was on an early start on August 23rd. Though he dreaded going back to Hogwarts, he knew that it was always better to finish his education. The Auror academy had already said that, Harry, Ron and Hermione would be welcome there even before finishing their NEWTs. Ron decided to take that offer, but Harry and Hermione decided to finish Hogwarts. Hermione was very happy that Harry decided to continue the education. Ron and Hermione had broken up with each other, when Hermione said that she wanted to pursue a career in ministry of magic. Ron was of the opinion that, only he should work in the ministry so that Hermione could do household work. This angered Hermione and led to a big fight between the two. They then broke off their relationship.

Harry and Ginny had already broken off their relationship when they both realised that they did not have any deep feelings toward each other and their break up was peaceful without any heartbreak. They both were still very good friends and Ginny was now dating Neville Longbottom. The Weasleys were also recovering from the death of Fred but treated both Harry and Hermione nicely. After the battle, Harry had moved into Grimmauld place with Ron and Hermione. Ron had left after his and Hermione's breakup and Hermione had left shortly afterwards to find her parents in Australia. Harry and Ron still exchanged letters and met each other frequently but Hermione had gone incognito for two months before she had come back from Australia with a really heartbroken face.

She had been unsuccessful in finding her parents, as it looked like her parents had moved from Australia to another place. Hermione said that, she needed sometime alone and decided to stay for the rest of the holidays at her home. Then two weeks before September 1st , Harry and Hermione got the mail that they both were appointed as head boy and girl with the list of things that they had to buy. Harry and Hermione decided to go and do the shopping. After Harry was ready and ate what kreacher gave to him for breakfast, Harry went to the leaky Cauldron and met Hermione there. They exchanged some pleasantries first and they went into the alley.

"Do you think, we will be OK going back?", Hermione asked.

"I am not so sure, but I am determined to finish my schooling there. It is my first home and I want to get everything it can offer us.", Harry said.

"I know for a fact that, half of our year won't be there.", Hermione said. "I mean half of those who have survived the war."

Harry noticed that tears were starting to come from Hermione, so he hugged her tightly. Hermione started crying on his chest. "I know how you fell, Mione. It has been hard for me too. But I have decided to draw power from our sorrow and do better."

"Hopefully we won't have to worry about protecting ourselves anymore. Voldemort is gone for good.", Hermione said. She was still in the hug and looking directly on Harry's face.

"That does not mean that, we have to let our guard down, Hermione.", Harry said releasing her from the hug. Hermione took a kerchief from her bag and wiped her tears.

"Harry Potter, the biggest Pessimist of the wizarding world.", Hermione said with a small smile. Harry was feeling really happy seeing her smile like that and smiled back at her, but then said, "I know that the war is over, Mione. But its always good to watch our backs."

"I heard that, you defended Draco Malfoy when he was on trial.", Hermione said.

"Yes. His mother pretty much saved my life, at the last moment and that too he gave me the impression that he was made to join the death eaters forcefully.", Harry said. "But I am still going to keep an eye on him."

When the death eaters were put on trial, Harry had gone and attended each and every one of their trials. After the battle 90% of the death eaters were either dead or captured and some surrendered willingly like the Malfoy's. The Malfoy's were tired of fighting and braced themselves for any punishments that they were given. Lucius was of the mindset that, even Azkaban was better than being in the wizarding world that would shun him and maybe even throw stones at him for his part in the war. He was given a lifetime sentence in Azkaban. Narcissa was set free as she did not have the dark mark, but had to pay a heavy fine. When it was Draco's turn, Harry defended him in court saying that, he was forced to join the death eaters. The jury took the word of the boy who lived and released Draco Malfoy under the condition that, he will not leave the country for a period of 2 years.

"I still don't trust him.", Hermione said as they entered Gringotts to retrieve money. "I don't know whether he will change his bullying ways."

"I hope he will.", Harry said as he went to the manager to get a goblin to go to his family vault. He had come to Gringotts just 2 months before to find out his inheritance. He had received an owl from Gringotts telling him that he had to come and meet the goblins about his inheritance. He found that, he had inherited all of the Potter vaults, and he was the descendant of Perverall and Potter lines. He also was a distant descendant of the Gryffindor house through his mom's side. By the sum total, he found that he was filthy rich and had enough money to last 6 lifetimes. He still decided that, he will not show off his money and power like the Malfoys and gave a significant donation to the war relief and St. Mango hospital.

After getting the money from the bank, he went and purchased new school robes and textbooks for his final year. He also brought a book about wizarding traditions as he knew that, as soon as he finished his schooling, he would have to take the lordship of house Potter and represent his house in the wizengamot. At first, he was angry on Dumbledore for not telling all this to him, as he could have had more time to prepare for his responsibilities, but then the teller goblin had told that, it was a tradition that the heirs would be informed of their duties only when they were of age, and because of the war going on, the bank couldn't do this the year before.

Harry's anger came down when he heard that. They then had proceeded to go to all of his vaults. He found that, in addition to money there were family artefacts, jewellery and even a full library in the vaults. The Goblins also informed him that, the Potter manner was completely destroyed in the first war against Voldemort when his grandparents were murdered by death eaters and hence he had to live in Grimmauld place, which he was happy to do so.

Then they both had lunch together at the leaky cauldron. A pub which was nearly full before the war was now nearly devoid of people because of the sheer number of people who were killed. Harry knew that, if he was late in killing Voldemort, then the whole wizarding world would have been destroyed. Harry and Hermione then returned back to their homes through the knight bus.

Just before Hermione got down, she hugged Harry and said, "see you soon, Harry."

She then kissed Harry softly in his lips once and exited the bus. Harry was stunned at this show of love and sat on the spot without moving till his stop had come. This was the first time Hermione had kissed on his lips, even if it was just one soft kiss. The only girls to kiss him on his lips were Cho and Ginny, with whom he was in a relationship with. He then threw away those thoughts. He knew that, Hermione didn't consider him anything more than a friend and it was the same case with him. He was sure that, there was nothing more in between them. He then shook the thoughts out of his head and entered back to his home.

 **A/N Thank you to all the people who favourited and followed this story. I did not expect the story to get so much attention. First of all, English is not my first language. Hence there is going to be many grammatical mistakes. To my readers, if any of you are interested in being a Beta, please PM me. See you in the next chapter**


	3. Chapter 3

**THE ARTEFACT**

Mr. Borgin as usual was having a really dull day. Very few customers were coming to his shop after the fall of the dark lord. Most of his customers during the war were death eaters or the people who were allied with the dark lord. Now that, most of them were either dead or in prison the most Borgin got was a thief stealing artefacts from the fallen families. Mr. Borgin narrowly escaped Azkaban as he was not marked and did not participate in any raids. Though he did fund the death eaters with money. He just had to pay a significant amount of money as fine and a warning that, he will be thrown in Azkaban if he does something suspicious again.

But Borgin was not scared. He had done his business even before the war, without getting caught in anything illegitimate. He knew that, even though the ministry had vowed to come clean and eliminate any kind of corruption, there will be officials who are willing to turn their eyes for some amount of galleons. But now, his business was at an all time low. His father had said that, the only time the business went down was between the defeat of Grindelwald and the rise of the dark lord. He always said that, there is no end to darkness. "Dark and light magic are like day and night", his father had said. "One is surely to follow the other. Your survival depends on how you adjust to both the phases."

He had taken his father's words to his heart and was waiting for the darkness to come. But he was not sure if that would come within his lifetime. When Borgin was having these thoughts, the bell to his store rand signalling that there was a customer coming to his shop. He then got himself ready and stood himself at the counter.

The man who came in had tattered and dirty clothes and looked like he didn't bath for several days. "Whatever happened to those days, where he was frequented by eventhe aristocrats of the wizarding world?", he thought to himself. He nodded at the man and asked, "How may I help you?"

"I-I need s-some money.", the man stammered. "I-I have something that might be r-really valuable."

Borgin did not doubt the man's claim as he knew that, if the man was desperate enough to come to him instead of going to Gringotts, then he knew that the object must be really interesting and the man got it through less than legal means. If the item was of importance, then the goblins would enquire about the source and it might land the man in trouble.

"Show it to me.", Borgin said. The man took out his bag and took something from inside it. He then placed it on the desk. Borgin saw that, it was an Egyptian obelisk. Borgin looked at it in wonder. He had never got anything like that before. He then took a closer look at the obelisk by levitating the obelisk and putting it where he could see it without touching it. He knew that he could not take any risk with any object brought to him. Though he could see no trace of dark magic in the man, Borgin had seen curses that affects the victim days after it is cast.

When he was looking at it, the other man said, "I had stolen this from a muggle guy in Egypt."

Borgin put the obelisk back on the desk angrily and said, "I have absolutely no interest in filthy muggle artefacts. Now get out!"

The man then said, "T-this is anything B-but muggle sir. I wouldn't have taken this, if it was."

"What do you mean?", Borgin demanded.

"If you put this in front of fire, you will come to know what I am talking about.", the man said. Borgin then went to place where he could light a fire and put the obelisk in front of it. Borgin's eyed became wide with shock as he saw a glow of light coming from the obelisk. But then the faint glow of light became black in color and shot a beam of black light from the side opposite to Borgin. "What kind of sorcery is this?", Borgin thought. "There was not supposed to be light consisting of black color."

It was as if black colored beam came from the obelisk. It must have been continuous as the beam continued to come out of it. "What is this thing?", Borgin asked.

"I have absolutely no idea.", the man said. "Is it going to be deal?"

"Yes. Yes.", Borgin said and he moved the obelisk from the fire. "How much do you want for this?"

"A hundred galleons.", the man said.

Borgin could easily deduce that, the object was priceless. He knew that, hundred Galleons was very cheap for the object. "The man must be in a very bad financial state.", he thought.

"Very well. I shall give you the money immediately.", Borgin said. He always kept a stash of galleons in his home. But when he turned around, he heard the man scream. When he turned back, he saw that the obelisk was glowing brightly and the man was on the floor screaming in pain. Borgin immediately saw signs of a dark curse and was glad that he did not pick the item with his hand. Though he was not sure that, it was the source. He knew that, the person should come in contact with the object for the curse to be transmitted, so he thought that he will not be affected. He didn't dare to touch even the dead body of the man. Instead he transfigured the body into a dead dog. He was planning to make one of the filthy men outside to bury the body. He called one from outside and told him to bury, by offering the filth some galleons. The rag was happy and took the body outside to bury it. Borgin then took the obelisk with a levitation charm, and put it in one of the shelves

Borgin was very happy that, he got such an object free of cost. He in no way could predict that, the object would be the starting point of something terrible.


	4. Chapter 4

**RETURN TO HOGWARTS**

Harry Potter woke up early on the day of September 1st. He was telling to himself that, he was more than ready to go back to Hogwarts but deep down he knew that, this was going to be a really hard year. He had told Hermione that, he was going to meet her at 10:45 at king's cross station and Hermione agreed with the plan. Kreature had made a bread omelette for him as breakfast. Harry had ordered Kreature to work in the Hogwarts kitchens while he was gone so that the elf wouldn't have to do nothing. House elf's magic came from the amount of work they did for their masters and how the masters treated them. If the master treated them nicely, then he house elf would become immensely powerful. This was why Dobby was a bit weak when he was working with Malfoy but became strong after he left the Malfoy's.

Harry reached King's cross at 10:40. He saw many students that were going to the school. They were carrying their trunks filled with books and some of them even carrying an owl. OWLs always reminded him of his old owl Hedwig and he was reluctant to buy an owl until a month and a half after the battle. It was only when he realised that, he would need an owl for some emergency situation that, he had brought an owl again. He named the owl as Remulus, honouring his uncle Remus. Then around 10:45, Hermione arrived with her trunk.

Hermione immediately gave him a hug after seeing him and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Its good to see you again, Harry.", she said.

"I am sure that, it has been only less than sixteen days since you last saw me.", Harry said with a grin. Hermione just ruffled his hair playfully and said, "We need to get to the train and enter the prefect compartment. You have not forgotten your head boy badge, did you?", Hermione asked scanning his shirt.

"Nah.", Harry said and pulled the badge out of his pocket. "I didn't want to look like some prat in front of everybody, like Percy. So, I thought that, I will wear this only when necessary."

Hermione just nodded and they looked around if there was any crowd of muggles there. When they saw that, no one was noticing they ran into the wall between platforms 9 and 10 and reached the platform 9 ¾. The Hogwarts express was already there and the two of them searched for the prefect's compartment. Hermione knew that, the compartment would be marked with the letter P. They were planning to meet Ginny in the compartment after the meeting and sit with her and Neville who were the current Gryffindor final year prefects.

When they entered the compartment, they saw that it was nearly empty but for one single person. It was Draco Malfoy. He was just sitting there, watching people in the platform with distant eyes.

Draco Malfoy was nearly regretting his decision to come back to Hogwarts. The war had hit him badly. Seeing all the students and their parents were bringing back memories from when he was just an innocent little boy who had a really narrow worldview. Everything had changed when the dark lord had come back and took over his manor. His father was put in Azkaban after the debacle in the ministry and the dark lord had taken advantage of that. He was forced to take the dark mark, saying that his mother would be killed if he did not finish the mission he was assigned.

From then on, the Malfoy family was a shadow of what was. The death eaters were coming in and out of the manner without any prior arrangements, and the living room of the manner was even converted to a place where muggles would be tortured, killed and even raped. Draco was sure that, the stains of those days would never go off. When he had come back, after the death of Dumbledore his mom was in a devastated state and he could see that, she would have a mental breakdown anytime. She was muttering things under her breath. Draco could sometimes hear things like 'please don't, please don't touch.'. Which made him think that, his mother might have been raped by either the dark lord or his goons.

Even his father had come back shortly afterwards, and even he was a husk of what he was. He had aged ten years in the duration of just one year and his face had become deathly pale and became the dark lord's punching bag whenever there was bad news. Then came the war in which he saw many of his friends and classmates die and some captured and thrown in Azkaban along with him. He was saved by the one person he always hated, Harry bloody Potter. Potter argued for him, and as he was the boy who defeated the dark lord, his words were taken seriously and he was set free.

But the days after that were also not good. He still had recurring nightmares about his dead classmates and friends. Sometimes even Dumbledore and Severus came in his dreams to say that, he was responsible for their deaths. He went and saw a mind healer for this and got the necessary counselling. The frequency of nightmares lessened but he still had them. His mother was also psychologically damages and the healers had said that, it would take years for her to recover. Thus, was the situation at his home. He knew that, things were not going to be any better at the school either as he was an ex-death eater and had to do some horrible things to many of the students. That certainly was going to make most of the students hate him. He actually wanted to return to Hogwarts because of the fact that, there was no one at his home presently and his home reminded him of all the horrible things that had happened.

He went to the platform using floo powder and went inside the prefect compartment. He had no idea, why or how he was chosen for this post. But he knew that, many of older the boys of his house were either killed or in Azkaban, and thus McGonagall had very few choices. He was sitting and looking outside the compartment, when the door to his place opened. When he turned around, he saw that it was Potter and Granger. Potter had the head boy badge and Granger the head girl.

"No shock in that.", Draco said to himself.

"Hello Malfoy.", Harry said with a nod. Malfoy just nodded and continued to look outside. Harry and Hermione didn't tell anything else to him and they sat down there putting their trunks down. After two minutes, Neville and Ginny came, one holding the others hand.

"Hi, Neville. Hi, Ginny.", Harry said to them both with a smile.

"Hello, Harry. Hello Hermione.", Neville said. He then took his gaze toward Malfoy who did not bother to great them or even to look at them. Seeing that, there was no response from the Slytherin Neville and Ginny turned toward Harry and Hermione.

"Sorry I couldn't come with you both to Diagon Alley. Mom had me to do some work at home that day.", Ginny said.

"That's Ok, Ginny. When did you go?", Hermione asked.

"Well, me and Neville went three days after you went.", Ginny said. "We both had fun, didn't we?"

"Y-yeah, we did.", Neville stuttered. Hermione giggled and Harry gave Neville a thumbs up. Harry found that, Luna was the Ravenclaw prefect along with Anthony Goldstein. They also exchanged some pleasantries and was completely ignored by Malfoy again who was just staring at the platform outside. After all the prefects came, they started the meeting.

Harry stood in from his seat, as he spoke. "Welcome to all the prefects, that have assembled here for another year at Hogwarts. As all of you know, I am Harry Potter and I am the head boy for this year."

"And I am the Head girl.", Hermione said getting up. "I know that the last year has been difficult for all of you, but we are the ones who should set an example and show that we can get through anything. If the prefects can show this, then the other students will also follow your lead and will be strong."

"We have lost many of our friends and family in the war. Some of us might have been in the opposing sides- ", Harry said and looked at Malfoy. The expression on Malfoy's face remained the same. "But now, it is time to come together again and rebuild the world."

After Harry and Hermione finished their small speech, the other prefects started clapping. Even the Slytherin prefects were clapping except for Malfoy, who just rolled his eyes. " Somethings never change.", Harry thought to himself.

Then the prefects sat and discussed their plans for the following year. Hermione and Harry had made some plans during the summer and shared with the rest of them. After ten minutes of discussion, Harry and Hermione sent the prefects to go on rounds. The both of them stayed in the compartment till all of them went, and the last one remained was Malfoy who just sat there.

"Well, aren't you going?", Harry asked Malfoy.

"I am not in a mood.", Malfoy said without even a glance to both of them.

"You are a prefect, Malfoy! You are supposed to go on rounds.", Hermione said angrily.

"Maybe I didn't want to be!", Malfoy said angrily. "Now sod off. Both of you!"

Harry and Hermione were shocked at his words. Malfoy was the one who had always wanted power. He was the person who liked to misuse his power to land them in trouble. But now, it seemed as though the war had changed even him. "Maybe we should just leave him alone.", Hermione whispered to Harry.

"You are right.", Harry didn't want to bother Malfoy anymore and went out. They both then went to patrol the train. Almost all of the students were just sitting in the compartments with their friends. No one was causing any trouble in the train. It seemed as though all the excitement which was there before the war was nearly gone. No one could blame them, as the war was traumatic to all. After their rounds, Harry and Hermione went to sit with Neville, Ginny and Luna. They all just sat there, discussing the things they did during the summer.

"What do you think is going to happen this year?", Neville said jokingly. "I mean some or the other thing happens at Hogwarts every year."

"I hope that, nothing will happen. I am ready for a year without anyone trying to kill me.", Harry said.

"What do you think would have happened to the DADA post, I mean the guy who put the curse is gone.", Luna asked dreamily.

"We will see the result by the end of the year, won't we?", Harry asked.

"Yeah we will.", Neville agreed. "I hope that, we will get someone competent."

They continued their discussion until the surroundings were starting to become dark and they knew that, they were nearly at Hogwarts. They all got ready, just before the announcer told that they were approaching Hogwarts. Then within five minutes, they reached Hogwarts. As they were going towards the carriages, Harry felt a small drop of water on his cheeks.

"It looks like it's going to rain tonight.", Neville said as they boarded a carriage and went toward the castle.


	5. Chapter 5

**THE FEAST AND THE REVEAL**

As they entered the great hall, Harry and Hermione noticed that the hall was completely repaired off the damages that it had got during the battle. The rest of the school still had some structural damages. But Harry knew that, those were superficial and the school would go on normally. Harry and Hermione sat next to each other, with Neville and Hermione sitting opposite them.

"I am starving.", Harry complained.

"Don't be like Ron, Harry.", Hermione said with a laugh.

"I think my inner Ron is coming out.", Harry said and then the doors opened and the first years came with Professor Flitwick. There was less number of first years compared to his years in Hogwarts because of the war, and Harry could bet that many of them must be muggleborns or half-bloods. Then the short professor took the sorting hat and placed it on the stool.

"The first years are to come here and put on the hat, as soon as I call out their names.", the short man said.

"Aster, Jones.", the Professor called and a black boy with curly hair went. Some seconds after the hat was placed on his head the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

The Ravenclaw table cheered for their first member as the boy gave the hat back to the professor and Literally ran towards them. Then Klaudia Aumin went to Slytherin. After two more students, Mitchell Clarke was sorted into Gryffindor. Harry patted the boy on his shoulders and told, welcome to Gryffindor. The boy looked at him with wide eyes and sat two seats away. 4 more students were sorted into Gryffindor, 5 more into Slytherin, 6 into Hufflepuff and 4 into Ravenclaw. The sorting ended with Mohammed Younus getting sorted into Hufflepuff.

As soon as the sorting was finished Headmistress McGonagall stood up from her chair and said, "Before we start the feast, I have one thing to say."

"Please don't tell me that, she will say something crazy like Dumbledore.", Parvati who was sitting next to Hermione said.

"Maybe the headmaster's position makes people go crazy. Like the post of DADA, which made them last only one year.", Ginny said snickering.

"A very hearty welcome to all a new year at Hogwarts and welcome back to all the older years.", McGonagall said. "Now all of you have a nice feast."

McGonagall waved her arms and food appeared on the table. Harry started eating as soon as food appeared. Hermione just raised her eyebrows and looked at Harry. Harry just shrugged his shoulders and continued. Harry saw that, only four of the Gryffindors of his year had decided to come back. Harry, Hermione, Neville and Parvati. The people of Ginny's year had also taken a toll in year. Many of the muggleborns were missing and most of the muggleborns were first years.

Then Harry took his eyes toward the staff table to see the teachers. McGonagall was in the headmistresses' chair talking to Professor Flitwick who was sitting next to Professor Slughorn. Next to Professor Slughorn was Professor Sinistra and then Hagrid. Hagrid gave Harry a smile as soon as he saw that Harry was looking at him. On the other side of Headmistress was Professor sprout who was talking to an unknown female Professor who was quite young, probably around the age of twenty five. Then came a male professor who looked as though he was of south Asian origin.

Harry then looked at his fellow students sitting near him. They all were sitting and eating without the usual cheer or enthusiasm except for the first years who were talking with the upper years excitedly.

"Are the classes hard?", a girl asked innocently. "I used to hate maths back in my old school."

"Don't worry, maths here is like an optional subject.", Harry said. "But you will have to do some small problems here and there."

The girl nodded at him. Hermione looked at Harry with raised eyebrows and asked. "We use maths every now and then, Harry. Why did you say like this to her?"

"We don't use it as a major subject, do we?", Harry asked.

"Well, no. But-", Hermione started to say.

"Don't want to give her more tension, in the first day, do we?", Harry asked. "I remember how nervous I was during this time."

Hermione just nodded and went on to talk to another first year. Just as they finished the feast, Professor McGonagall rose up on her chair again.

"Welcome everyone to Hogwarts.", she said. "We have survived the darkest of times, and have assembled here victorious. We have shown that, no one can try and destroy Hogwarts. We have shown that, the students will work together when the need comes."

The great hall clapped loudly at the headmistress's words. "Then back to the matters of school, . I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. There are certain areas in the castle that are forbidden because of the fact that, they are still in the state of repair. The list of those areas will be in the bulletin board. The Quidditch try-outs will be started the second week of September and anyone interested can give their names to the respective captains."

Then Professor McGonagall finished the speech by saying, "I request the head boy and girl to meet me in the office after the sorting."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, not sure of the reason as to why the headmistress had called them. But they knew that, it must be something serious. Then the feast was finished after the singing of the school song.

"First years, come with me.", Dennis Creevy, Gryffindor fifth year prefect called out. As all the students started leaving, Harry went to Neville and said, "We will join you after we meet with McGonagall."

Neville nodded and joined the other prefects as they went to the dorm. "What do you think the headmistress has to tell us?", Hermione asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Hermione. Maybe this is just a routine meeting which the head boy and girl do with the headmasters before the term starts.", Harry said.

"Hmm..", Hermione said as they walked through the hallway. "Merlin! I totally forgot! We don't know the password to the office!", she exclaimed.

"I am sure that, there ,must be a reason why McGonagall forgot to mention it.", Harry said as he turned around a corner to the stone Gargoyle. He found that, Professor McGonagall was already waiting for them both there.

"Mr Potter, Ms. Granger. Glad that you both came quickly.", McGonagall said with a smile. "We shall discuss things after we get to my office."

Professor McGonagall turned to the gargoyle and said, "world war". The gargoyle sprang alive and the three of them got onto it. When they reached the office, Harry and Hermione saw that, the room had many changes from the times of Albus Dumbledore. Many of the devices that were present were now replaced with books. The headmaster's table was larger and had some more chairs for them to sit. Harry smiled when he saw Fawkes still sitting on its place.

McGonagall went and sat on the Headmistress's chair and motioned for the other two to sit. "Good evening Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger. I am very happy to see that, you have decided to continue your education."

The two students nodded at the professor. "Now to the matter of your positions. As you have become the head boy and girl, and are of the same house, you will have separate quarters within the Gryffindor common room to live. I hope that, you both will set an example to other students by following the rules and being in good behaviour.", McGonagall said.

"We will, Professor.", the two students said with determined expression but they knew that, staying out of trouble was a difficult thing for the two of them before and knew that it might be a difficult thing now also. But with the defeat of Voldemort, Harry hoped that it will decrease.

Harry then took a look at the portraits of the headmasters in the office. Dumbledore was looking at them with a smile on his face. "Good evening, Harry."

"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore.", Harry said back with a smile.

"I hope that you have enjoyed your vacation.", Dumbledore said. Harry just nodded at this.

"Your request for putting a portrait of Severus has been approved, Harry. It will be installed within the next week.", Dumbledore said with a smile.

"That is good to hear sir.", Harry said. "The things he did for us should not be overlooked."

"Now Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger, there is one more thing that needs to be discussed.", McGonagall said with a solemn look at them.

Harry and Hermione knew from her look that, this was something serious. "What is it, Professor?", Harry asked.

"You see Mr. Potter, during the summer break there was another prophecy.", McGonagall said.

"WHAT!?", Harry and Hermione asked completely shocked. "Are you certain, that it is a real one?"

"Yes. It seems so.", McGonagall said.

"Does it-?", Harry began.

"No, Mr. Potter. The prophesy does not involve you.", McGonagall said. "But it is a really dark one."

"Is it about Vold- ", Hermione said with a scared feeling that Voldemort had found another way to live.

"No. It's not Voldemort either. But it's something darker.", McGonagall said. "You both can view the memory in the pensieve."

With identical looks of fear, Harry and Hermione followed McGonagall to the room where the pensieve was kept and went into the memory. When they came back, their faces were deadly white and Hermione was shaking.

"W-what does t-t-this mean?", Harry asked as he tried to recover from what he had seen. He knew that, one more war will destroy the wizarding Britain and maybe even the whole world. This was a thing that he wanted to avoid for the rest of his life but was stalking him at every point.

"We have no idea. We wanted not to tell you about this now, bur as you can see the first rains have already fallen here.", McGonagall said.

"Yes.", Harry nodded.

"Who and all knows about this prophesy?", Hermione asked.

"Me, and the other heads of houses. We even told the minister of magic.", McGonagall said.

"We didn't want this information public as that will obviously create a mass panic and might even lead to a regrouping of death eaters on the run.", Dumbledore said.

"That is a fair point.", Harry said.

"Is there anything else we know about this?", Hermione asked.

"No, nothing. We have no idea about the nature of the thing that is coming. And as you can imagine this puts us in a great disadvantage.", Dumbledore said. "and hence the threat is far worse than Voldemort."

"What can be worse than Voldemort?", Harry asked.

"That is a very good question.", Dumbledore said.


	6. Chapter 6

**THE DORMS**

After the meeting with McGonagall and Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione went to the Gryffindor common room. The separate dorms were in a separate room next to the Gryffindor common room and McGonagall had said them how to gain access to the place. The room as the professor said, was activated only when both the head boy and girl belonged to the same house. A knocker that was visible to only the heads and the people who are authorised to enter the dorms by either the heads or the teachers would be the entrance.

The heads were to assign a password to access the dorms and only the headmistress had the authority to access the dorms without the password. If anyone tries to enter forcefully into the dorms, both the heads and the headmistress would be alerted. Harry and Hermione were now in front of what appeared to be a handle in the shape of a lion.

"As the present head boy and girl, I order you to give access to the dorms.", Harry and Hermione said together.

The knocker glowed with light and then the door opened to reveal the dorms. "The password for this week will be 'Cricket'"

Harry and Hermione had put the password after the game of cricket and it was a term that most of the wizards would not even think as a password. They then entered the dorms and found that the it had a spacious front hall, with desks and chairs that were meant for four people in case there was others in the room. The front room had two doors opposite to each other leading to the rooms where they had to stay. Harry and Hermione started to explore the other parts of the dorm and found that, they even had a library attached with all the essential books for them. Hermione was completely delighted at the sight of this and glanced through all the books there.

"They have many good reference books here!", Hermione said with an excited voice.

They both then went to their respective rooms to unpack their things. After their unpacking, Harry and Hermione went back to the common room and sat next to each other.

"Looks like trouble just won't leave me huh.", said Harry sadly.

"This prophesy does not concern you, Harry.", Hermione said trying to make Harry feel better.

"This thing concerns not just me, but all of us. If someone even more worse than Voldemort is coming, then we are going to be in another devastating war.", Harry said.

"But as McGonagall said, it may be possible to stop this even before this starts.", Hermione said putting her hand in Harry's hair and ruffling it. Hermione knew that, doing that will make him feel better.

Harry was now feeling a bit better and said, "But we know next to nothing about whatever is coming."

"True. But I am sure that the ministry would be in a lookout for anything suspicious.", Hermione said.

"Remember what happened during our fifth year?", Harry asked thinking about the disaster called Umbridge.

"Kingsley is the minister now, isn't it? He would never turn his back on these matters like Fudge.", Hermione said as she once again ruffled Harry's hair.

"That is true.", Harry said and then let out a yawn. He was very tired after the long day and wanted to go to bed. "I think we better go to bed. We have classes tomorrow, don't we?", Harry asked.

"Yes, we do. Pity that we couldn't meet Neville and Ginny after the meeting.", Hermione said as she looked at the clock. It was around 10:30.

"We were very much shocked by what McGonagall told that, we completely forgot about them.", Harry said.

"Should we tell about what McGonagall said?", Hermione asked as she rose out of where she was sitting.

"McGonagall said that, this was to be kept a secret and we gave our word. Its better to not tell them until it is absolutely necessary.", Harry also rose up.

"Then we shall not.", Hermione said and kissed Harry on his cheek. "Good night, Harry.", she said as she went to her Room.

Harry's cheek became red where Hermione had kissed him. He smiled a bit and said, "Good night, Hermione."

He then started walking back to his room still thinking about the kiss Hermione had given him. It was as though a kiss from her was helping him throw away all the negative things that was on his mind. They both had come closer together both during the time Ron had left them when they were searching for the horcruxes and during the time spent at the Grimmauld place. Harry just wanted to forget about these thoughts, but he could feel a small attraction that was growing towards her.

Harry for most of his life had only considered her as his best friend and this sudden change was confusing him. But he felt oddly comforted by this. He didn't think that, Hermione would return his feelings toward her and didn't want her to get another heartbreak. But as he was trying to forget his growing feelings toward Hermione, another bigger and darker thoughts were coming to him. The fact that Trelawney had made another prophecy was disturbing as it is, and the fact that it was about the return of darkness in the world was even more disturbing.

Trelawney's previous two prophecies had directly affected him and had made his life a living hell. The first one had killed his parents, and the second one had killed many people that he cared about. He didn't want another war to happen but it seemed trouble was following him relentlessly. Harry then changed into his pajamas but decided to sleep shirtless as the climate was relatively hot and there was no body else at the dorms. His last thought as he stared out of the window as it was raining was about Hermione.

As Hermione entered her dorms, she found that the rain had started to fall again. Then she remembered the words of the prophecy. The darkness was supposed to be fallen as the first rains fell. This was the first rain in four months. It was making her more and more about the future. She had barely survived the last war, mostly due to sheer dumb luck and some bravery by the three of them. She didn't know, what the odds were of them surviving again were.

Hermione's next line of thought was about Harry. They both had become closer together over the course of last year. He had been the one who helped her to get over the heartbreak after breaking up with Ron and consoled her after her failed attempt at finding her parents in Australia. She was now confused over her rising feelings toward Harry. She had thought that, she would never have any relationship with anyone but her interactions with Harry was suggesting otherwise to even Hermione. Harry was her best friend, who she knew will never abandon her and knew that he will give his life for her if he had to.

As she changed into her pajamas, for some reason Draco Malfoy came into her mind. She knew that, if a dark force did come to the world the first ones to be affected will be the old death eaters. Draco was a death eater who had come free and if a war starts again, the first ones to be targeted by the ministry will be the people who were associated themselves with the opposite side, even if they are innocent now. History had many examples of that, both muggle and wizarding. She hoped that Draco Malfoy will stay out of trouble this time. As she had all these thoughts she went to bad and tried to fall asleep.

Draco Malfoy was now in the Slytherin dormitory, thinking about all the mistakes that he had made in his life. From treating students of the school like shit to joining the dark lord, though the last one he had to do reluctantly. He knew that, like his uncle Severus he could always have gone to Dumbledore and sought out his help instead of doing what he did. But at that time, he was scared that if he did that his uncle Severus would have told that to the dark lord and his mother would have been killed because of that. Now that he knew about the true nature of his godfather, he regretted everything.

The only people who returned to Hogwarts of his house in his year were, Theodore Nott who had ran away from his home not wanting to be a death eater, Daphne Greengrass whose family had never joined the dark lord or the resistance movement and Millicent Bulstrode whose family was also not associated with the death eaters. All the others were either in prison or were dead.

"How does it feel like to be back here?", Nott asked Draco.

"I am sorry, Theo. But I am not really in a good mood to talk now.", Draco said as he climbed onto his bed. His final thoughts were about Potter and Granger. He thought about how he tormented both of them relentlessly throughout the years and how he regretted everything now.


	7. Chapter 7

**THE DARKNESS**

Mr. Borgin was now closing the shop as the clock ticked nine. It was raining heavily outside and he knew no customer would come to his shop in this weather. He was now making sure that; no body was in the shop right now or there was no item inside that was misplaced in any way. As he cast the lumos charm against the rows of shelved that were reserved for dark objects, he found that a faint glow was emanating from one of them.

"What the hell?", Borgin thought and went toward the source of the light. He found that the light was coming from row where the Egyptian obelisk was kept. He then cautiously went toward the obelisk and found that the light was indeed coming from the obelisk. The glow was so bright that, he had to use a charm to protect his eyes. He then cast a levitating charm to see what was happening. But then, for some reason the whole store started shaking. It was like they were experiencing an earthquake. Borgin was now trying to hold on to a shelf so as to not fall down. But the glow in the pyramid was getting brighter and brighter.

Then suddenly there was a sudden implosion in the store. It was as though the shop had imploded. The blast had such a power that the whole shop was destroyed along with the contents of it. Mr. Borgin was also killed immediately and his body was unrecognizable. As soon as the news of an explosion was out the aurors immediately rushed to the alley to investigate the matter.

"What in the world has happened here?", Auror Ben asked as he surveyed the blast site.

"The Borgin and Burkes was completely destroyed by an implosion, which also killed Mr. Borgin who was inside the building at the time.", his junior auror said.

"Borgin was a pain in the ass before the war and was going to become the same.", Ben said. "But whatever his past was, we have to uncover what actually happened today that made his whole store implode. If a dark object is responsible for this thing, then we have to recover it and contain it."

"We shall search the ruins for anything dark sir.", the junior agent said.

"Be careful with the things that you discover. Borgin and Burkes is famous nasty stories of dark objects being stored here. Including the rumour that You know who has worked here for some time.", Auror ben said as he looked at the ruins. He knew that, he had to report to the minister immediately about this, and he knew that the minister would be angry if he didn't have any leads.

As the agents went over the ruins, Ben went to talk with the people who were outside to know their side of what had happened. Ben approached a guy who looked like he had not taken bath for more than a month. The man looked at him and then said, "I ain't knowing nothing!"

"How did you know, I was going to ask you questions?". Ben asked.

"Yeh aurors always target us, whenever somthin' happens here.", the man said.

"I won't arrest you for anything unless you have done something wrong.", Ben said. "Now tell me exactly what happened here.

"You see, I was sleeping outside the shop properly without bothering anyone.", the man started. "Just then, I started feeling the whole ground shaking like it was a goddamn earthquake!"

"Then what happened?", Ben asked.

"There was a loud sound from the shop and I ran for my life thinking that, I was also going to die.", the man said. "But thank Merlin, that the whole thing affected only the inside."

"Did you see anything suspicious, or interesting?", Ben asked.

"Yes. There was a big beam of what looked like a black light came out of the building just after this.", the man said scratching his head.

Ben was now totally confused by what he heard. "What do you mean, there is no light that is black in colour.", he said.

"I am only telling what I saw.", the man said. "The whole damn thing was so unnatural man!"

"Are you sure, that you were in your right senses?", Ben asked still suspicious of the thing the man had said. People like him was always in a bad mental state because of Firewhisky or even magical weed. This possibility of this, made the man's statement not so authentic.

"I am telling you man, I did see the whole black light thing.", the man said sensing Ben's disbelief.

"Pharmacum revelio.", Ben said the incantation that would reveal any kind of drugs that were present in the man's system. But Ben was shocked to find that, he was free of anything that would cause him to hallucinate. Ben then knew that, the person might be telling the truth.

Ben didn't know, what exactly the latest development meant. He only knew that, an unnatural thing like that happening was definitely not good. He then went back to his junior agents to see whether they had discovered anything. He then approached an auror and asked, "Find anything interesting?"

"This whole place is full of dark shit.", the auror said. "One of our men had nearly hit by a curse from something really dark, but thankfully he was able to get away from it."

"Thank merlin for that.", Ben said. "I have no idea, how this place was allowed to run for so long. We should have kept a tighter watch on this guy."

"We took care of most of the things that were found here, by sending to the curse breakers. I think only they can tell us which one of these damn things caused this to happen."

 **THE ARTEFACT**

"A dark artefact dealer gone by the hand of a dark artefact.", Kingsley said. "Quite an irony isn't it?"

"But sir, the thing is this guy has dealt with cursed objects his entire life.", Ben said. "I am sure, he knows about all the dangers that he will face when he does this job. If he was not all carefull with his work, then the shop would have gone down ages ago."

"What are you trying to suggest?", Kingsley asked curiously.

"What I think is that, we are facing a dark object of a totally different kind than we have ever experienced before. The black light that was said to have come from the shop clearly suggests that.", Ben said.

"Do you think that, the witness is genuine?", Kingsley asked.

"I do sir. I checked his systems for any kinds of drugs, but there was none that would give him hallucinations.", Ben said.

"Okay. What step are you going to take next?", Kingsley asked.

"I am waiting for the report from the curse breaker teams about the things found in there.", Ben said. "I am sure that, they can give more insight into what exactly happened there."

"Good.", Kingsley said. "Now you can go. I am sure that, you have had a really long day. I will give a day off if you want.", he suggested.

"I was about to ask you the same, sir.", Ben said. "I am sure that, the reports will not come for 2 days.", Ben said and got out of the room.

Now Kingsley was alone in his office. The news that he had just heard was a most disturbing one, and he had not heard since the fall of lord Voldemort. What made this even more disturbing was the fact that, it came on the day in which the first rains had fallen after a gap of four months.

"The prophesy!", Kingsley thought to himself. "This thing was happening just as the prophesy had stated. Kingsley knew that, he had to take some urgent decisions and have to consult with Dumbledore as soon as the next day came.

"Merlin help us.", Kingsley said as he flooed back to his house.


End file.
